What the flux?

Here she is, on the one and only Tina Vu:

The chain has a silver granule on each end, keeping it from slipping out of the pendant.  These granules also aid in adjusting the length of the piece, which can be worn tight, like a choker or loosely.

Best lesson of the semester: Don't forget to quench your metal.  A nasty burn in the palm of your hand makes work slow. :)



Its the CLAW

This is my initial idea for the pattern/texture project.  My inspiration was from a squirrel paw.  I'm always curious about those little critters! But, ya gotta be careful not to make your work too cute.  I guess I'm pretty good at abstracting these things!

The chain will come up through the long tube at the bottom come up out of a tube at the top of the piece, go around the neck and back down through the bottom tube. I still need to figure out my catch for the chain, it's adjustable at the bottom, so I want it to flow with my design. 

This is my marriage of metals!Textured copper and silver, so fun.

Last Day of Class!!!

Right now, I am making a pendant, it will be adjustable from the front and the chain will hang down pretty far.  I'll post some pics of my progress soon.
I married copper and silver together, then textured the copper area.  It was much easier to do than I thought!
After that, I used the hydrolic dye form and domed out my largest form, silver on the sides and copper down the middle.  The piece has a nice taper to it, strong triangle shape. Almost done! Yay!!!

I make stuff, now I sell it.

I'm getting ready to sell my artwork for the first time ever!  Most, if not all of my stuff is going to be ceramics, but there will be plenty of cool local vendors to check out and buy from including Buff State Alum!

Pattern & Texture

Gathering up images for the pattern and texture project coming up.  I'm pretty interested in using the paws of the animals I've been referencing this semester.
Here it goes:

STAMPEDE!

I finished my mice production earrings yesterday night and made my display for them tonight.  This one was a bit touch and go for me, which I wasn't expecting, but overall, I am satisfied with the results.

Once I sanded them down and got some patina on the pieces, I was much happier.
I used liver of sulfur to make them completely black, then buffed them with triple E and rouge.
The silver granules are highly polished as well as the smooth copper areas.  The textured areas (tails) are highlighted.

Bring on the next project!

Change of Ideas

Last week  I posted a video on rivets.  However, I changed my mind again! :)

I haven't experiemented with riveting too much so here are my reasons for not doing them:
1.Project is due on Wednesday
2.I don't want to learn on my pieces
3.I don't have the wire I need

But, I brainstormed some more ideas, just wait, it can still work out.

Woohoo!

Class was cancelled on Monday, so I guess that means that our pre-critique got pushed back until next week! Who woulda thought?  Good thing I cranked out so much work yesterday, now I'm a little ahead of the game :)

I was planning on doing some wire shenanigans to make my earrings dangle, but rivets would probably be easier to do and nowhere near as much soldering as my other plan.  Now I just need to get some silver wire...

Production Progress

The production project is well under way, good thing because mid-critique is tomorrow morning :)
I did a few texture samples, but that doesn't seem like the way to go for this one.  The textures disappear when I dome out the form.  I think I'll focus more on contrasting copper and silver.
I punched out the main forms for my earrings today and it feels like I'll be filing them for eternity, but hopefully it won't take that long.

After I get these guys more refined, I'll add some silver granules for embellishment and attach my earring posts!



Mice Mice Mice Mice Mice

I think I've changed my design every time I sit down to look at it.  But that is a good thing, just gotta stick with one.
Thank you Rach for giving me inspiration. . . very helpful.

1 Month, 5 Pieces.

Deadline for the first project was this morning.  Tonight, I start my second.  This one is a production line and we have to create (at least) 5 of the same piece.  I'm pretty excited about this one and I've got some good ideas brewing.

My theme is rodents, here are my reference images.

All Done, Let's Relax

I finished my armadillo brooch today, critique is tomorrow, so tonight, I thought I would sit back and relax in my most favorite of recliners, the dusty brown one in the lounge of the ceramics studio.

This is what I found:

R.I.P. broken, lump chair.

In any event, this is my project, it has no title yet:

Son of a Pitch!

Started chasing my project tonight, finally! Got my pitch bowl ready, tools are done, metal is cut.  It feels good, tools seem to be working well, all is right with the world...and I can make lots of pitch jokes so I'm happy.

Let's Get Serious.

This week marks a month into school.  Uh oh. Time flies! I've been brainstorming new ideas for the chasing and repousee project these past few weeks, but only as a pendant.  Tonight I broke down, stopped being stubborn and found a pretty awesome design for a brooch.  The size is more managable and, hey, it's more of a narrative this way.  Long live the armadillo!

...They're a lot smaller than I thought.

Gettin' Started!

Well hello!
Finally got my blog going for Jewelry Junior studio! How exciting is that?
Spending the day making my tools for chasing and repousee.  Also, I need to figure out how to make my armadillo into a narrative, hmmm...